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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN num: 9780441012398
ISBN number: 0441012396
Label: Ace Trade
Manufacturer: Ace Trade
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 384
Printing Date: May 03, 2005
Publishing house: Ace Trade
Sale Popularity Level: 175304
Studio: Ace Trade
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Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
As Princess Lissar reaches womanhood, it is clear to all the kingdom that in her breathtaking beauty she is the mirror image of her mother, the queen. But this seeming blessing forces her to flee for safety from her father's lust and madness. With her loyal dog Ash at her side, Lissar will unlock a door to a world of magic, where she will find the key to her survival-and an adventure beyond her wildest dreams.
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Rated by buyers 
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I am a fan of Robin McKinley. I love her thoughtful writing style. That being said, this book is a huge dissapointment. I was bored and a little bit confused. She starts with a compellling if not disturbing tale and ends up wandering al over the place. Move on, not worth owning.
Rated by buyers 
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This book exhausted me. I bought it and stayed up all night to read it, and it left me feeling emotionally drained. It's very rare that I get so invested in a story, and in a character, but Lissar was both very real and very human, and I really CARED about what she went through and what happened to her. Having known several people who have been sexually abused, I found her reactions completely believable. I also really really liked the fact that it didn't have the stereotypical fairy-tale ending--McKinley acknowledges that there are some things that can't be easily banished, even by love.
I've always liked McKinley's prose, and this book did not let me down. It's richer, and more adult, and the way she handles Lissar's narrative conveys the poor girl's quasi-madness wonderfully. And, as someone else said, she handles the incestuous bits themselves as tastefully as is possible--there's nothing graphic about it, nothing unnecessarily gratuitous.
I'll reiterate what several other people have already said: this is not a children's book. I'd say it's fine for teenagers, but definitely do not hand this one to an elementary-school child. It would be a good one to discuss with teenagers, since it deals with things that are almost taboo to talk about, and does so in a very moving, convincing way, despite the fairy-tale setting. I would have loved to see more of what happened to the king after he received his justly-deserved retribution; the book so successfully made me hate the man that I wanted details of his punishment. If anyone deserved to dance the night away in red-hot shoes, it was that guy.
Rated by buyers -
this is a retelling of the story donkey skin. a short summery of the book would be; after the death of a girl's mother, her father abuses her out of grief and she runs away, and i think she takes her dog with her (it's been a while since i've read it). she kind of looses herself because of her grief at what her father did in the wilderness and after a while comes to this castle, wearing a deerskin dress, and they take her in and call her deerskin, and there's a prince etc. i won't spoil the ending.
there is an odd obsession with dogs in this book, as the girl (princess) has her own dog and also takes care of the prince's puppies. i don't have a dog or care about them much, so while fascinating, this part of the book didn't really draw me in and dragged on a bit at parts. there was a nice symbolism present and the heroine did regain a sense of herself and an acceptance of herself by the end of the book. overall not my favourite read, but decent. worth it if you put in the time, but nothing mind blowing.
Rated by buyers -
To start off, this is a fantasy. That means you need to suspend disbelief and be prepared for the main character to take a journey of some sort. This also isn't your usual fantasy, not by a long shot. There is too much of the real world interwoven into the story. A princess that isn't the Disney princess we have learned to expect. Love at very first sight that is so all consuming it eventually taints and even destroys the lovers. Beauty that is worshipped by the beholders and the beauty herself. Beauty that consumes, blinds, and eventually destroys those who come too close. And, a brutality straight out of the real world.
At first, McKinley lulls her readers into thinking this is an ordinary, sometimes a little dull, story of a princess. Obviously, she is going to do the usually princessy thing: attract a prince, get married, and live happily ever after. Okay, so she does, but the getting there isn't at all what the reader expects. Some readers may have to hang in there for the very first several chapters. By the end of part one, McKinley has socked her reader between the eyeballs - hard.
Yet, this is a fantasy. Where a woman, princess or not, may have died in our world, a spiritual figure enters, and the princess and the story continue. The description of the slow road from trauma to acceptance to moving on with life is all too clear and not so much fantastical as fraught with real life experiences. There are plenty of symbols for those who choose to see them, but the story is valid for itself.
Who should read this? Women who hopefully never experience what this princess does. Men who will find this story a window into an experience they otherwise would be unlikely to experience. Young adults would benefit from reading the book as well. Perhaps though, it is a book, along with Gate to Women's Country, to share with young men, so they can see the world from another window. Over all, this is a basically very good read that is thought provoking as well as just plain enjoyable.
Rated by buyers 
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I adore McKinley but I wasn't overly fond of Deerskin. If you have read other McKinley books, tread softly here... her writing style is completely different in this book.
There are WAY too many loose ends and not enough substance in the story. I had to keep re-reading paragraphs because they didn't make sense. This book is not "dark" as a lot of reviewers claim. In fact, I found it rather dull and lacking.
I read all the reviews prior to ordering the book... I wish I would have paid closer attention to the negative reviews.
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